Former Red Wings goaltender Thomas Greiss spoke with The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford recently regarding the end of his tenure with the Detroit Red Wings…
After Detroit’s season ended in April, goalie Thomas Greiss had a meeting with general manager Steve Yzerman.
The rebuilding Red Wings had missed the playoffs for the sixth straight season and given up the second-most goals in the NHL (310). Though starter Alex Nedeljkovic had been in net for 178 of those, Greiss’ goals-against average (3.66) and save percentage (.891) were worse.
The 36-year-old was also going to be an unrestricted free agent.
“I really respect Steve, I think he’s a good GM, and we had a good talk about the whole thing,” Greiss said. “He was very honest with me and told me he’s shopping around and seeing what he can get. So they went in a different direction.”
And his decision to sign with the Blues, for 1 year and $1.25 million:
A couple of other clubs expressed interest, and there was “a chance,” Greiss said, that he might have retired if the right situation didn’t come along. But after 13 seasons in the league, he didn’t want to call it a career and was hoping to hear from a contending team.
“It was definitely, ‘What’s out there? What’s available?’” Greiss said. “St. Louis, being a very good team and a good city for the family too, it was an easy choice. There were other options, and St. Louis was my No. 1 pick.
“I think I still have some good hockey in me. Obviously last year wasn’t my best year, but looking back, I’ve been a pretty good goalie overall in the NHL in my career. I just want to have a good year. I still enjoy playing hockey, and that’s the most important part.”
Continued (paywall), with a few more interesting snippets from Gresis and Nick Leddy about playing for the Wings and Islanders as teammates…
